The secret to life is running, reading, and coffee. Now you know.
The first two I stole from the great modern-day philosopher, Will Smith.
Allow me to explain. The reason why running is one of the secrets to life is because it’s hard. Every second on a treadmill there is a little voice inside your head telling you to slow the speed down, lower the incline, or run a shorter distance than you were planning on running. A big part of life is overcoming that voice in your head and pressing on to completion of your goals. Studying when you want to be watching TV. Finishing a project when you want to be drinking with your friends. Or saving money when you want to go shopping.
The reason why reading is one of the secrets of life is because you aren’t the first human being to ever live. A lot of human wisdom has been collected, consolidated, and bound into books over the last hundred years. Learning at the speed of life is too slow and reading is one of the best ways to accelerate that learning curve.
Finally, coffee. The reason why coffee is the third and final secret of life is not for it’s obvious caffeinated properties but rather the way a 30-60 minute chat over coffee can forge a new relationship, change your perspective, or connect you to a life-changing opportunity. In the same way that reading about the journeys of other human beings can accelerate your learning, nothing important in this world happens without other people. Whether you drink tea, water, or a delicious cortado, meeting people over a beverage to listen to their experience and get their advice is invaluable.
Together with the advice and relationships built over coffee, the knowledge from reading, and the drive to see things through to completion, that’s all you really need to live life to your full potential.